1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a film processing roller assembly and, more particularly, to a film processing roller assembly in which the initial spacing between the processing rollers is adjusted to accommodate the insertion of a negative and positive film sheet with a pod of processing fluid therebetween within the bite of the rollers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Photographic cameras of the self-developing type wherein a film unit comprising a positive and negative film sheet disposed in superimposed relationship with respect to each other are advanced through a pair of processing rollers for uniformly spreading a processing fluid between the positive and negative film sheets are well known in the art. The film processing roller assemblies for such self-developing cameras may include a means for initially releasably retaining the processing rollers in a predetermined spaced relationship to facilitate the reception of the exposed film unit for processing as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,701, entitled "Novel Photographic Camera Film Processing Means", by Irving Erlichman, issued June 19, 1973, in common assignment herewith. The means for releasing the processing rollers is thereafter disengaged to allow the processing rollers to resiliently close on the film unit and spread the processing fluid in a well-known manner. Other film processing roller assemblies embody another useful and important feature which allows the user to preset the gap or spacing between the processing rollers prior to processing the film unit as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,260, entitled "Spreader Roller System Having Adjustable Roller Gap", by Vaito Eloranta et al., issued Nov. 23, 1982, in common assignment herewith. However, such features have not been combined in a single film processing roller assembly so as to enable the user to both select the gap spacing between the processing rollers while at the same time allowing for an initial increase in the spacing between the processing rollers to accommodate the initial receipt of the film sheets into the bite of the rollers and still maintain edge control of the film processing fluid as it is spread between a pair of positive and negative film sheets.
Therefore, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a film processing roller assembly in which the gap spacing between the processing rollers is initially automatically increased to accommodate the reception of both a positive and negative film sheet in superimposed relationship with respect to each other and thereafter decreased to a selected roller gap spacing to assure the uniform spread of the processing fluid between the positive and negative film sheets.
Other objects of the invention will be in part obvious and will in part appear hereinafer. The invention accordingly comprises a mechanism and system possessing the construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure.